I never wanted to be an Olympian. All I wanted was to keep breaking my own record. I never competed to defeat anybody. —P. T. Usha
Pilavullakandi Thekkeparambil Usha, Born on 27 June 1964 at in Payyoli, Kozhikode district of Kerala, remained the ‘Queen of track and field’ for almost two decades.
As a child Usha showed an early aptitude for sports. This won her a scholarship of Rs. 250 from the Kerala government and led Usha to a special sports school at Cannore. In 1979 Usha participated in the National School Games.
It was here that O. M. Nambiar (who coached her throughout most of her career) spotted her. He realized that this girl had a great potential. This proved the turning point of her illustrious carrier.
She was arguably India’s first sports icon, who was an inspiration to people across the nook and corner of India, cutting across gender, generation and professional boundaries & fondly called the ‘Payyoli Express’.
PT Usha, is, perhaps, best known for her incredible run at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games. As agonising as missing out on an Olympic medal by a mere 1/100th of a second was, LA is often considered the coronation of India’s ‘queen of the track and field’
Usha became the first Indian woman to reach the final of an Olympic event. She is the youngest Indian sprinter, at 16, to compete in the Olympics at the 1980 Moscow Games and won the first medal of the 1982 Asian Games in track and field. Overall, she participated in three Olympic Games – 1980, 1984 and 1988.
The ‘Payyoli Express’ was a member of India’s 4x 400m relay squad in the 1996 Olympic Games, but did not compete.
She was part of India’s 4x100m relay, together with Rachita Mistry, EB Shyla, and Saraswati Saha, which won the gold medal in the 1998 Asian Championships and set the current national record of 44.43 seconds.
At one point, returning after a four-year break, Usha bagged a silver medal at the Hiroshima Asian Games 1994.
For her achievements, Usha has been conferred the Padma Shri and Arjuna Award. The legendary athlete is now actively involved in running the Usha School of Athletics (USHA) at Koyilandi, near Kozhikode.
